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Joshua C. Munger, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Office: (585) 273-4800

Fax: (585) 271-2683

Research Labs

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Research

A major focus of our laboratory is human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a herpes virus, which is the leading cause of congenital viral infection, occurring in approximately 1% of all live births. Congenital HCMV infection results in central nervous system damage in the majority of symptomatic newborns. HCMV infection also poses a serious health risk to immunosuppressed individuals, increasing morbidity in the elderly and in patients receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy, including cancer patients, transplant recipients, and AIDS patients.
The majority of the projects in our lab study the interfaces between viruses and the host cell that determine the outcome of infection. Specifically, we focus on how viruses usurp cellular metabolic controls and subvert cellular anti-viral signaling to support productive infection. The goal of our laboratory is to increase our mechanistic understanding of these processes to identify novel avenues for therapeutic intervention that could prevent virally-associated pathogenesis.

The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths globally. Anti-viral therapeutic strategies are desperately needed to attenuate SARS-CoV-2-associated disease. We have initiated a high-throughput pharmacologic screen of a unique metabolism-focused compound library to identify drugs that limit coronavirus infection in pulmonary human fibroblasts. Our preliminary data has identified several compounds that substantially inhibit coronavirus infection. Our laboratory is in the process of validating the anti-viral activity of these compounds against SARS-CoV-2. In addition, we are elucidating how coronaviruses modulate cellular metabolism to support productive infection in an attempt to identify viral metabolic vulnerabilities that might be targeted for further therapeutic development.

Publications

Journal Articles

1/3/2024
Rasmussen AL, Gronvall GK, Lowen AC, Goodrum F, Alwine J, Andersen KG, Anthony SJ, Baines J, Banerjee A, Broadbent AJ, Brooke CB, Campos SK, Caposio P, Casadevall A, Chan GC, Cliffe AR, Collins-McMillen D, Connell N, Damania B, Daugherty MD, Debbink K, Dermody TS, DiMaio D, Duprex WP, Emerman M, Galloway DA, Garry RF, Goldstein SA, Greninger AL, Hartman AL, Hogue BG, Horner SM, Hotez PJ, Jung JU, Kamil JP, Karst SM, Laimins L, Lakdawala SS, Landais I, Letko M, Lindenbach B, Liu S-L, Luftig M, McFadden G, Mehle A, Morrison J, Moscona A, Mühlberger E, Munger J, Münger K, Murphy E, Neufeldt CJ, Nikolich JZ, O'Connor CM, Pekosz A, Permar SR, Pfeiffer JK, Popescu SV, Purdy JG, Racaniello VR, Rice CM, Runstadler JA, Sapp MJ, Scott RS, Smith GA, Sorrell EM, Speranza E, Streblow D, Tibbetts SA, Toth Z, Van Doorslaer K, Weiss SR, White EA, White TM, Wobus CE, Worobey M, Yamaoka S, Yurochko A. "Virology-the path forward." Journal of virology.. 2024 Jan 3; :e0179123. Epub 2024 Jan 03.

12/20/2023
Raymonda MH, Rodríguez-Sánchez I, Schafer XL, Smorodintsev-Schiller L, Harris IS, Munger J. "Cytomegalovirus-induced inactivation of TSC2 disrupts the coupling of fatty acid biosynthesis to glucose availability resulting in a vulnerability to glucose starvation." mBio.. 2023 Dec 20; :e0303123. Epub 2023 Dec 20.

7/31/2023
Wu J, Subbaiah KCV, Hedaya O, Chen S, Munger J, Tang WHW, Yan C, Yao P. "FAM210A regulates mitochondrial translation and maintains cardiac mitochondrial homeostasis." Cardiovascular research.. 2023 Jul 31; Epub 2023 Jul 31.

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